Tuiasosopo gives McGraw details of intricate hoax

February 1, 2013

Ronaiah Tuiasosopo has said he fell in love with Manti Te'o and that all his energy went into pretending to be the woman the Notre Dame linebacker came to know as Lennay Kekua.

Tuiasosopo, the mastermind of the elaborate hoax, spoke publicly for the first time in an interview with Dr. Phil Mc-Graw for the "Dr. Phil Show," the first part of which aired Thursday.

Tuiasosopo said Te'o, a Punahou School graduate, knew nothing of the scam. Tuiasosopo also said he doesn't believe Te'o ever suspected Kekua was fake.

Article Photos

Te‘o

Tuiasosopo

"He had no involvement," Tuiasosopo said of the 2012 Heisman Trophy runner-up. "He did not know anything."

Tuiasosopo said he built the online persona of Kekua, a nonexistent woman who Te'o said he fell in love with despite never meeting in person. Tuiasosopo then killed off the character in September.

"I pretty much had this escape of Lennay and this was where my heart had pretty much invested, not just time, but all of my energy went into this," Tuiasosopo said.

He said he felt Kekua was a part of him, and grew feelings and emotions for Te'o that he could not control. He acknowledged that the hoax was cruel, but said it was never intended as a joke and that he got no financial gain from it.

"As twisted and confusing as it may be, yeah, I cared for this person," he said, referring to Te'o. "I did all that I could to help this person become a better person, even though I wasn't getting nothing out of it."

Tuiasosopo said he performed the voice of Kekua but initially refused to recreate it when pressed by McGraw. He eventually agreed to do the voice behind a privacy screen, something McGraw promised to show during part two of the interview today.

Te'o has denied any involvement from the beginning, and Notre Dame said an investigation of the player's claims backed up his story.

Tuiasosopo said he felt Te'o became a better person as a result of the relationship.

"If you really look at all his interviews, he felt that," he said. "When he was under the understanding that he lost her, he realized all the good that Lennay had done for him."

Through a spokesman, the Te'o family declined comment.

Tuiasosopo said he decided to confess to Te'o earlier this month as the hoax was unraveling because he felt he could not go any further with his own life until the truth was out.

"You've heard of recovering drug addicts? It takes a lot of courage to stand and say that," he said "To recover from homosexuality and this type of thing. Not only that, coming back to your real life, as hard as a task as that is I'm going to do all that I can to live right."

McGraw said that statement bothered him.

"I hope it's a pressure you don't put on yourself," he said.

Tuiasosopo said he killed the Kekua character on the day Te'o learned his grandmother died, following an argument with the football star.

Te'o had told Kekua he did not need her, Tuiasosopo said.

"It hurt me," he said. "It hit me like a brick wall. I was like, 'Whoa, I've given so much into this.' And I realized right then in that moment, that I poured so much into Lennay, that I myself was getting nothing, and look what I was left with."